Johan Elmander's woeful miss and a controversially disallowed goal continued the misery for new Bolton boss Owen Coyle.

Sweden international Elmander, a £10million striker signed by former boss Gary Megson, was played clean through by Kevin Davies in the 87th minute - only to roll his shot wide.

And a minute later Davies rose to meet Chung-Yong Lee's right-wing corner, heading home the ball only to see referee Mark Clattenburg rule out the effort for a push.

Bolton sub Vladmir Weiss, on loan from Manchester City, livened up his team's attacking play when he went on for the final 20 minutes but, overall, it was a disappointing afternoon for Coyle's relegation-haunted team.

It had taken them almost a full 40 minutes to create a meaningful chance, however. That arrived when Fabrice Muamba's shot was deflected into the path of Mark Davies who couldn't quite get clean contact on the ball and only managed to steer the ball to Mark Schwarzer.

The closest the first half would come to a goal followed three minutes later with the same Bolton midfielder involved. This time, Chung-Yong Lee's ball found the head of Kevin Davies who took advantage of Brede Hangeland's slip and nodded down for his namesake.

Mark Davies lashed a wicked blast on target, forcing Schwarzer into a superb reflex block that turned the ball on to the crossbar.

The average age of the Fulham line-up was over 30 but despite their "OAP" line-up, they boasted plenty of pace and threatened on the counterattack, usually sparked by winger Damien Duff. And the Cottagers made a half-decent start with full debut man David Elm almost converting Jonathan Greening's farpost corner at full stretch after 10 minutes.

Tamir Cohen responded for Bolton with a half-hearted volley over from Lee's lay-off.

Schwarzer then did enough to put off powerhouse striker Kevin Davies as he seemed poised to connect with Ricketts' dangerous cross.

But in between those two flashes of activity for the Fulham keeper, the visitors carved out their best chance of the opening period through midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi, who fired a low shot just wide.

Taylor opened the second half with a running shot that flew wide from the edge of the Fulham area.

And Hodgson's injury woes continued as Dikgacoi seemed to injure his ankle and limped off in the 54th minute to be replaced by Dickson Etuhu. Etuhu was soon called into action as part of the wall that blocked a wasteful Taylor freekick. It was awarded after Hangeland had fouled Kevin Davies in what was becoming an increasingly tasty tussle between the two no-nonsense big men.

Taylor and Kevin Davies tried lofted shots which were nothing more than easy catches for Schwarzer, while Greening's cross caused Jussi Jaaskelainen to flap briefly but flew out of the danger zone.

The closest the second half had come to a real chance arrived on the 70th minute.

That was when a flowing Bolton move ended with Cohen slipping through a pass to Lee, who tried to round Schwarzer but let the keeper get a hand on the ball.

Weiss instantly livened things up and cut in from the left to unleash a shot that deflected just over.

At the other end, Nicky Shorey's free-kick took a similar deflection over the Bolton crossbar.

Substitute Stefano Okaka steered a tame header at Jaaskelainen as the game continued in stalemate mode.

Shiner Knight

Maybe it's playing against your old club but the big stopper was imperious at the back.